Farah And Rupp Shine At Diamond League Meet

Mo Farah and Galen Rupp went 1-2 in the 5000m in Birmingham, England last Sunday. Photo: Trackfocus.com

Mo Farah and Galen Rupp went 1-2 in the 5,000m in Birmingham, England last Sunday. Photo: Trackfocus.com

The Salazar-coached training partners defeated a pair of Ethiopian runners.

The Aviva Grand Prix Diamond League meet in Birmingham, England on Sunday was kind to coach Alberto Salazar. The reason: two of his athletes, Mo Farah of Britain and Galen Rupp of the United States, put forth solid performances there. Farah, who switched coaches to Salazar earlier this year, won the 5,000m in 13:06.14. Rupp came in second behind his training partner in 13:06.86–a new PR at that distance.

Rupp’s new PR was nearly 20 seconds faster than he ran at last month’s U.S. Outdoor Championships. His previous personal best was 13:07.35.

In the Birmingham race, both Rupp and Farah defeated Ethiopia’s Imane Merga, who finished third in 13:07.63, while countryman Yenew Alamirew was fourth in 13:08.78.

“It’s so nice to win and finish 1-2 with Galen,” Farah told the IAAF Web site. “People have asked me about my move to the United States, but as an athlete you’ve always got to be looking at how to improve yourself and what you can do better.”

Duncan Larkin

Duncan Larkin is a freelance journalist and author who’s been covering the sport of running for over a decade. He’s run 2:32 in the marathon and won the Himalayan 100-Mile Stage Race in 2007. He wrote the book RUN SIMPLE, and coaches runners of all abilities.
You can learn more about him here: http://roadsmillslaps.tumblr.com/about